DIAGRAM Center + Goals

The explicit goals of the DIAGRAM Center + for 2020 are:

1. Increased number of new educational materials that are born accessible and readily available to children and students with disabilities
2. Increased use of new tools and technologies to create accessible education materials, especially STEM content, for children and students with disabilities
3. Increased knowledge of the accessibility features specific to the needs of students with print disabilities and students with disabilities not traditionally associated with print disabilities
4. A community of technology developers, publishers, and end users building knowledge and contributing to the development of tools/services.

Highlights of our planned activities include:

• Prototyping a repository/registry of accessible images in multiple modalities (description, tactile, 3D objects), focusing on fundamental STEM concepts while eventually expanding to more multimedia such as interactives and video.
• Piloting the timely customization and delivery of manipulatives for children with various disabilities, including working with partners such as gh and Derrick Smith
• More work on accessible math, including more input and output options and a MathML support finder
• An open repository of examples of reusable demonstration code for accessible versions of the most common digital interactions and modalities (e.g., haptic CSS, video transcription, interactive sliders, other stylesheets, 3D web-based models).
• Leveraging the video work of the VDRDC (Video Description Research and Development Center) and their YouDescribe software.
• In partnership with George Kerscher and the U.S. Fund for DAISY, furthering development of Readium to add and maintain accessibility features, especially ensuring support for the Diagrammar content model.
• In partnership with WGBH/NCAM, developing and releasing demonstrations of accessible STEM digital learning assets (including videos and activities) for young children, based on the popular program PEEP and the Big Wide World
• R&D on tech for children with disabilities not traditionally associated with print disabilities, including user testing, and working with publishers and educational technology companies who serve them
• Integration and implementation tools and services, packaged for publisher partners and academic institutions, to make “born accessible” a reality in their workflow.
• An annual DIAGRAM Report, a “horizon report” covering key promising new and existing technologies for multi-modal access to and creation of STEM materials.
• Continue our leading work on technical standards development, community engagement and expansion, technology development partnerships, and training and knowledge sharing.

DIAGRAM’s founding goals can be found on the DIAGRAM Goals 2012-2015 Page.